


Second Star To The Right

by name_me_regret



Series: Things That Go Knock In The Night [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Confused/Mentally disturbed character, Coraline references, F/M, Gay Harley Keener, Harley Keener centric, Harry Potter References, Harry Potter spoilers, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Other book references, Peter Pan AU sorta, Peter Parker Whump, Tony Stark Acting as Harley Keener's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-10-25 21:49:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20731307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/name_me_regret/pseuds/name_me_regret
Summary: Harley Keener and his sister are forced to move to New York, one day he meets a boy in Central Park named Peter. He acts very strange, but there seems to be more to him.Or: The Peter Pan AU (sorta) no one asked for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dianasaurus_rex101](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dianasaurus_rex101/gifts), [RebecaThomas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebecaThomas/gifts).

> This was an idea I’ve had for a while. As always happens when I start to write it, the plot changed completely than what I had intended. I tried to keep it to the Peter Pan AU I was aiming for, but it sort of didn’t work? I wanted to name the chapters, but then I remembered that I suck at coming up with titles *scoffs at self* So, untitled chapters, as always.
> 
> This story is already finished, written within a day, actually. I’m going to post it one chapter a week to see how it does... might take it down?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first meeting is a strange one...

**Second Star To The Right**   
_Chapter One_

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_“When I look over my shoulder,_   
_ what do you think I see?_   
_ Summer kept lookin over his shoulder at me._   
_ And hes strange,_   
_ sure is strange._

_You got to pick up every stich,_   
_ you got to pick up every stitch, yeah._   
_ Beatnicks are out to make it rich._   
_ Oh no_   
_ Must be the season of the witch...”_

~Season of the Witch - Donovan

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_May 28, 2016 (Saturday)_

Harley stormed out of the room angrily, because he refused to cry in front of the man. He had his pride as a man, damnit. So what if he was only fourteen, his mama wasn’t there to be the head of their family so now it fell to Harley. The real world didn’t have time for ‘but I’m only fourteen’ or ‘Why can’t our mama come back?’, or any other variations of these two. His mother was gone and nothing would bring her back, and crying certainly wouldn’t make it better.

“Harley!’ he heard Tony call out, but he was through listening to him. And while the man had stepped in and adopted them, he wasn’t his dad, and Harley didn’t want him to be. So, he threw himself in the elevator, pressing the close button after selecting the button for the lobby. He needed air and Tony hovering over him wasn’t going to help him calm down. In fact, he was pretty sure that they’d have another argument and he’d yell more things he didn’t mean because he was angry.

He didn’t know where he was going, the sun already low on the horizon and knew that it would be dark soon. Even then, he didn’t go back, refused to go back. He knew he was being irrational, and that he wasn’t the only one suffering, because his sister Abbie had also been left an orphan as well.

Harley just needed a moment to himself.

By some way or another, he wound up in Central Park, close to some gigantic rocks. There was a few joggers and families on the park, but it was starting to get dark so they were all getting ready to leave. The air was sticky with the heat of summer, and he was glad he was wearing shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt.

“Hi!”

Harley squawked in shock as a voice suddenly spoke behind him. He whirled around and saw a boy on top of the biggest rock, which he thought was called Rat Rock or something like that. He was wearing a red striped t-shirt and a dark blue faded sweater over it that only had a zipper that went to about chest level. Harley wondered how he wasn’t sweltering in that. He had on a pair of jeans, glasses that obscured big brown eyes and dark brown, curly hair. He might have been Harley’s age, or younger since he looked twelve.

“Hey?” Harley said as he looked up at him. Harley was tall, probably taller than this kid, but he was on top of the rocks so he had to tilt his head back to look at him. “What are you doing up there?”

The kid shrugged and crouched down like some kind of bird of prey, looking down at him. “I dunno, I like being up high. What’s your name? I’m Peter.”

Harley frowned and wondered if he could climb up there. “Uh, I’m Harley. How’d you get to there?”

Peter looked around and pointed to the left, his left and Harley’s right. “That way, maybe?” He shrugged again, grin still in place as if there was something funny he was remembering to which Harley wasn’t privy to. “It’s getting dark though, so maybe you should go home. The weirdos come out at night,” he said.

Harley eyed him, having been about to round the Rat Rock to try and climb up. “What about you? You look like you’re twelve.”

Peter scowled at him angrily, his whole body tensing and he looked ready to jump off the rock onto Harley. “Hardly!” he finally scoffed, relaxing a moment later. He swayed back and forth in his crouch, grinning at him. “I’m one of those weirdos... better run home to your mommy.”

Now it was Harley’s turn to scowl angrily at him. “Shut the fuck up,” he growled, bending down to pick up a rock or something to throw at him. However, when he straightened, Peter had disappeared from view. He heard him giggling somewhere out of sight, probably further up the rock. “Where’d you go?” Harley shouted.

‘_We are small but we are many, we are many we are small_,’ he heard the boy singing in an eerie voice.

Harley’s face twisted, freaked out by the boy. “Hey, man, what’re ya doing?” He flinched as a few pebbles fell from on top, but when his eyes darted toward it, there was nothing there. The sky was already darkening and he realized he didn’t see anyone else, there was only him.

_'We were here before you rose_,’ came the kid’s singing again, making Harley shudder.

“Stop it!”

‘_We will be here when you fall__!’_

When he saw a shape moving on top of the Rat Rock, Harley threw the rock still in his hand, but he missed and the other scampered off, laughing as he went.

Harley turned and fled, running as fast as he could away from Rat Rock and the strange kid. He didn’t stop running until he was back at the tower, breathing heavily when he got into the private elevator after entering the building. The security guard tried to stop him, but then saw his face and let him through.

The door opened on the 97 floor, which is one he hadn’t been in before and Tony stepped inside. “Harley, there you are,” he said, sounding relieved. “Where were you?” He stepped into the elevator.

He only saw the hallway the private elevator opened directly in front of, but the walls were glass so he could see into the room that had what he thought he saw a medical bed. There was someone in it, but the curtain around it was halfway closed so he couldn’t be sure. He heard a feminine voice coming from inside.

“Only her skin was white as paper. Only she was taller and thinner. Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped moving...”

Then the door closed and Harley was left wondering, until he realized that Tony was still waiting for an answer.

Harley shrugged, deciding not to tell him about the strange kid. “Nowhere, just walking around to calm down,” he muttered. The elevator opened onto the penthouse and he trudged out into the hallway, intending to head to his room but Tony’s voice stopped him.

“Harley... I know this is hard for you,” the man said, voice strained. The man had known his family since Harley had been ten years old, so the boy was familiar with his emotional constipation. “Just... I’m trying here, kid. I really am.”

He wanted to walk off, snub him as he remembered their argument earlier, but he decided against it. Whether he liked it or not, this was his home now, and he needed to make things work, for Abbie’s sake. She was struggling as much as he was, but she was looking to her big brother for guidance. He couldn’t fail her.

“Yeah, I know,” he sighed. “I’m sorry about what I said.” It was hard to get out, since he’d never liked apologizing, but he knew he had to say it. He’d said some hurtful things and even if he was an adult, he knew by the look on his face, Harley had hurt his feelings. Harley had forgotten that Tony and his mom had been friends, having met through his personal assistant-turned-girlfriend aNd now wife, Pepper Potts. Macy Keener’s sarcastic quips and no-nonsense manner had appealed to the philanthropist, and they’d become fast friends.

“It’s alright,” Tony sighed, waving off his apology. “We were both assholes, I guess.”

Harley grinned at him. “You shouldn’t be swearing around innocent, impressionable minds,” he snarked.

Tony snorted, pushing him toward his room. “Innocent isn’t a word I’d use to describe you, Keener.”

Harley laughed as he went inside his room, feeling lighter than when he’d left the tower almost three hours ago. The time spent away had helped, even if that kid in Central Park had been creepy as hell.-

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coraline by Neil Gaiman is referenced in this chapter, and the phrase in the book is sang like in this video:
> 
> [How Coraline Could Have Been Creepier](https://youtu.be/LZsxK3u3avE).
> 
> Watch it from minute 5:03 to 5:15 if you just want to hear the song, but I recommend watching the whole video.
> 
> Dedicated to Dianasaurus_rex101, RebecaThomas, my two most enthusiastic and frequent reviewers (super enthusiastic, love it!).


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley returns to the park...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going by a limited knowledge of Central Park and the landscape of Heckscher Playground and ballfields, so bare with me.
> 
> I was gonna wait for a few more days to post this, but decided, what the heck. Enjoy!

**Second Star To The Right**

_Chapter Two_

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_“Baby hair with a woman's eyes_   
_ I can feel you watching in the night_   
_ All alone with me and we're waiting for the sunlight_   
_ When I feel cold, you warm me_   
_ And when I feel I can't go on, you come and hold me_   
_ It's you and me forever...”_

~Sara smile - Hall & Oates

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_June 10, 2016 (Friday)_

He hadn’t wanted to go, but his sister had been begging him, and he felt bad for turning her down when she rarely asked for something. Harley didn’t want to admit that he was a bit afraid to go, and he shouldn’t be. He was almost fifteen years old, in three days actually, so he couldn’t be a baby anymore.

So, he’d gotten them dressed for the warm weather and headed out, but made sure it was close to the time classes let out here. The school term in Tennessee had ended on May 23, but here it didn’t end until almost the end of June. He and Abbie were starting the new school year in New York, and that meant they had an extra month of summer vacation, since the school term this year started until September and not August.

Honestly, Harley would have preferred to have a normal two month summer if that meant they still had their mama with them.

Harley shook himself of his dark thoughts, since he needed to concentrate on being fine so as not to make Abbie sad. Their lives were now in New York, Tennessee a distant memory that was best forgotten. There was nothing waiting for them there anymore. This was home now.

Abbie shrieked and his head snapped up, but calmed down when he saw that she was just on the swing. He frowned when he saw a boy about his age pushing her, and tensed as he shot to his feet when he realized it was that strange boy from the other day, Peter.

The fourteen year old had been sitting on top of the wooden fence while he read a book on mechanical engineering, it was college level, but it was easy for him to understand. That’s the reason he was going to go to Midtown Tech this coming school year. Now he gave no care to the book as he dropped it as he ran toward them.

“Hey!” Harley shouted. Abbie had let herself fly off the swing and landed unsteadily on the sand. They were almost the only ones there, but it was starting to fill up. Both of them look at him, seeing as Peter’s brown eyes lit in recognition.

“Heya, Harley,” he chirped. He seemed to be wearing the same clothes, and again he wondered how he wasn’t sweating out of his skin wearing the pullover. Hell, Harley was hot in his t-shirt and jeans. “I was wondering if I’d see you again.”

Harley eyed him carefully as he pulled Abbie against him, the girl squirming in his hold. “Harley, he was just pushing me on the swing! He wasn’t doing anything,” she protested.

He gave her a glare. “He’s a stranger, Abbie. Remember what mama taught us about strangers,” he told her, wincing a moment later when her face fell.

Abbie wiped at her suddenly wet eyes. “Well, she’s dead now, so what does it matter?” she snapped, shoving him hard enough to knock him down before running off.

“Abbie!” Harley shouted, scrambling to his feet before he ran after her. She’d gotten a head start while he’d been getting up, having climbed over the wooden fence and running full tilt toward the trees and in the direction of the ballfields. After a moment, he realized that there was someone keeping pace with him and glared at Peter. “What the hell do ya want?”

Peter shrugged as he easily kept pace, a grin starting to spread over his face the longer he ran. “I’ll help you find her! She’s a pretty cute kid,” he said. Harley grit his teeth, since he didn’t want the strange kid to follow them, but Harley had lost sight of her and it’d be easier to find her if two people were looking for her.

When he lost sight of Peter as well, both of them going in different directions, he cursed and wished he’d have remembered to get his number so they could call one another if they found her. He found himself in the baseball field, following the sounds of people, and hoped she had gone in the direction of civilization and not where the trees increased. When he didn’t see her among the people that looked to be starting a game, he deflated, turned and started to go back in the direction he’d came.

“Harley!” He stopped and turned to the left, and sighed in relief when he saw Peter and Abbie as they ran toward him. “I found her!”

It had been only ten or twenty minutes, but it had seemed to be a lifetime for Harley as he snatched her up in his arms, holding her tightly to his chest. “Don’t you ever do that to me again,” he gasped against the strands of her blonde hair. He didn’t think he could stand losing her as well. Harley would just lay down and let himself die, he was sure.

“I’m sorry,” Abbie mumbled when he finally set her down. “I realized I didn’t know how to get back home five minutes after I ran off, but by then I was lost.” She grinned at Peter who had been loitering around as they had hugged, crouching down to examine a twig that he seemed to be trying to pick up but missing. It was really strange.

“Hey... thanks for finding her,” Harley said, because even if this kid was super strange, he had helped find Abbie.

Peter had jumped up as he beamed at him and Harley felt his face start to heat up, because even if he was a weirdo, he was super cute. “Sure! I didn’t want her to get lost in the woods and be carried off by the fairies,” he told him.

Harley frowned. “Fairies?” he snorted. “Fairies aren’t real.”

The smaller boy, whom was a few inches shorter than him he noticed, jumped forward as he nodded. “But they are! They stole me away, they did!”

Harley pulled Abbie back and behind him. “I think we should go.”

Peter deflated. “You don’t believe me,” he sighed. He turned away, shoulders hunched, mumbling something he couldn’t hear. Harley strained his ears and finally picked up a few words. “I fancied you’d return the way you said, but I grow old and I forget your name. I think I made you up inside my head.”

He glanced back at them, seeing Abbie looking at him with childish curiosity, and Harley had gotten that defensive, wary look from the other night. “Fairies are real... if you eat what they offer you, you’ll never be able to return.” He started to walk toward the trees, picking up pace until he was running when he reached the first one and Harley thought he was imagining things when he seemed to disappear.

“Whoa! Maybe he really was a fairy!” Abbie shouted, so he knew he hadn’t imagined that.

“Holy shit,” he whispered, grabbing his sister’s hand and pulling her away and back toward the park. Happy was due to pick them up soon and he was officially freaked out. He was sure he wouldn’t be returning to the park anytime soon after that.

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

When they returned to the tower, they entered the elevator as they made their way up to the penthouse. Harley was surprised when a woman entered the elevator on the 97 floor, the same one Tony had been in before. “Oh, hello,” she greeted with a smile. She was beautiful with straight brown hair and glasses that she had hooked on the collar of her shirt.

“Hi! Are you a stranger?” Abbie greeted, making Harley laugh at the unexpected question.

The woman smiled, winking at Harley. “Aa a matter of fact, I am.” She held her hand for the little girl to shake. “My name is May. I’m a friend of Tony’s, what’s your name?”

Abbie looked at Harley as she shook the woman’s hand. “She’s Abbie, and I’m Harley,” he told the woman. He remembered Tony telling him that they might meet his friend May suddenly, since she tended to visit the tower often.

May took his hand in a handshake, the door of the elevator opening as all three of them stepped into the penthouse. “It’s nice to meet you, Harley, Abbie,” she said, smiling after the little girl as she bounced out and toward the kitchen. “I was hoping to speak with Tony, actually. Do you know if he’s in? He’s not answering his phone.”

Harley and May walked toward the kitchen where the little girl had started to take out the things for making a sandwich. “I’m not sure. I can go see if he’s in his room, if you want?”

She nodded. “That would be great. Thank you.”

Harley hurried down the hallway that led to their private rooms, listening as Abbie started to talk with May. He heard her asking why she was here, but he got too far away to hear the woman’s answer.

“Tony, are you here?” Harley called as he knocked on his door.

The door opened and he saw the man toweling his hair, having just gotten out of the shower. “What’s up kid? I thought you had gone to the park with Abbie.”

Harley shrugged. “And now we’re back. Answer your phone, old man. Your friend May has been calling you.”

Tony tossed the towel in the laundry chute and stepped out. He was wearing dark grey sweats with the MIT logo on them and a black MIT shirt. “I was in the shower.” He reached out as he smacked Harley in the back of the head lightly. “Respect your elders, brat.”

The teenager snorted. “Sure,” he said as he followed Tony.

“May, I’m sorry I didn’t hear your call,” he said. The woman came over and both the adults headed back toward the elevator, and Harley wasn’t able to make out much expect ‘no response’ and ‘I can’t take it, Tony’. He couldn’t really understand what was happening or what they were talking about, but the woman that had smiled at them seemed distressed. It seemed she’d been pretending so as not to worry them with whatever had her so distraught. Adults always seemed to do that.

“I made you a sandwich, Harls,” Abbie said with a smile, sliding a plate with a sandwich. It was likely peanut butter and jelly, which he wasn’t a fan of. Even then, he took it and took a bite, glancing at the two adults as they spoke of hushed tones by the elevator.

“I asked May about fairies,” Abbie suddenly said.

Harley swallowed the bite he’d taken, taking a sip of the milk she’d poured him. “Yeah? What’d she say?”

Abbie bit into her sandwich, chewing as she tried to remember what the woman had said. When she swallowed, she drank some of her milk. “She told me there’s a poem she knows that has to do with fairies. It goes.... Come away, o human child... uh to waters and wild... I forgot the rest.”

“Come away, O human child!”

Both of them turned to see Tony had returned, minus May.

“To the waters and the wild. With a faery, hand in hand, for the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand,” he recited. “It’s a poem called The Stolen Child by a poet called W.B. Yeats.” He leaned against the counter, stealing the rest of Harley’s sandwich as he took a bite out of it. Harley didn’t much care, since he didn’t really like PB&J sandwiches. “Did May teach you that?”

Abbie nodded. “Yeah! I asked her about fairies and she said there was a lot of stories and poems about them.”

Tony finished the sandwich in two more bites, drinking the rest of Harley’s milk. “Fairies, huh? Did you find one in the park?” he asked with a teasing grin.

“Yup!” Abbie exclaimed, popping the ‘p’. “Harley, tell him!”

Harley came around the counter to make himself a turkey sandwich before Abbie took it upon herself to make him another PB&J one. “Not a fairy, just some weird kid.”

Abbie argued his words, “No! He disappeared, you saw him!”

Harley snorted. “No, he ran into the trees. He didn’t disappear.”

Only, he really had. Peter had disappeared and Harley was terrified to think that he really had been stolen by fairies, and that Abbie might have been stolen away from him as well. Did that mean Peter had saved her?-

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Mad Girl’s Love Song” by Sylvia Plath and “The Stolen Child” by by W. B. Yeats are referenced in this chapter.
> 
> Let me know what you think! My Instagram: phiodmuse


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley’s birthday... in Central Park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know, this just... I wrote it at 1AM, so yeah... all of this written in one day. I was exhausted by the end lol I’d been wanting to write this one shot for a while. Finally, that manic, sleep deprived inspiration hit, and viola! Lol
> 
> I haven’t slept all day and now I gotta work @_@ Kill me now.

**Second Star To The Right**   
_Chapter Three_

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_“Before all of this ever went down_   
_ In another place, another town,_   
_ You were just a face in the crowd_   
_ Out in the street, walking around_   
_ A face in the crowd_

_Out of a dream, out of the sky_   
_ Into my heart, into my life_   
_ And you were just a face in the crowd_   
_ Out in the street, thinking out loud_   
_ A face in the crowd.”_

A Face In The Crowd - Tom Petty

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_June 18, 2016 (Saturday)_

He’d refused to return to the park no matter how many times Abbie begged him all weekend.

“I wanna see the stolen boy! Maybe we can help save him from the fairies!” she’d shouted. Tony wasn’t there to hear her, or he’d likely have something to say. He had agreed with Harley when she’d talked about meeting a fairy and that it was probably some kid playing a prank on them. As for Harley, he hadn’t told them Peter’s name, because he was afraid that he really was a boy stolen by the fairies and his face would be on a missing poster or something.

Now it was his birthday and it seemed Abbie was more devious than he gave her credit for. She’d somehow convinced Pepper, who was their adopted mother since she was married to Tony, that it’d be a good idea to have Harley’s birthday party in Central Park.

It wasn’t exactly a party, but ‘A Walking Tour & Picnic’. It was a guided tour of Central Park and there was a picnic after the 2 hour tour! Two hours! Who wanted to walk for two hours on their birthday?!

Well, technically his birthday had been Monday and they’d had a small cake just the newly formed family, and now some of Tony’s friends would be along for the festivities since neither Harley nor Abbie had any friends. But still, he didn’t want to go on a hike. Harley didn’t want to risk running into Peter again, because cute boy or not, he was super weird and freaked Harley out.

That’s the reason he was trailing behind the group, hardly peddling on this stupid bike he’d been forced to ride. They weren’t even that far into the two hours, it’d been ten minutes and Harley wanted to quit. It wasn’t because he was out of shape, because he was use to hoofing it to school if he ever missed the bus. He just thought this was really dorky and there were some kids his age pointing and laughing at them.

“I wanna die,” he groaned, wishing he could hide his face at least, but the bike was so old that if he let go he’d likely topple off it.

“Then perish,” a voice cackled. His head whipped around toward the familiar voice, and his stomach flipped when he saw Peter in the trees he was passing.

Harley wanted to ride off, but his gen-z genes wouldn’t let him. “That’s not right. I have to say, I would die for you. And then you say, then perish.” He’d stopped, putting one foot on the ground so he would topple.

Peter grinned with a shrug. “I’ve never been one for memes.”

Harley eyed him. “You _are_ strange, what kid of gen-Z kid doesn’t like memes?” He noticed then that he had the same clothes... again. “And don’t you ever change clothes? Do you live in Central Park or something?”

Peter looked down at his clothes with a confused look. “This is what I had on when I was taken, so I can’t change.” He looked at him, head tilting with a sorrowful expression. “You still don’t believe me, do you?” He stepped back into the tree line, and damned if he wasn’t starting to disappear right before Harley’s eyes.

“Wait!” Harley called, dropping the bike and rushing forward. Peter paused and started to reform again, almost like some kind of ghost. “Shit... fuck,” the taller boy gasped, stopping just a few steps from him. “If... if you’re being held by fairies, can I help? Can I save you?”

His heart was pounding as Peter looked at him, head titled curiously. “Maybe... maybe you can,” he said slowly.

“Harley, where’d you go?” Harley heard Tony’s voice.

Peter looked shocked when he heard the voice, turning to look at Harley. “Peter? What is it?”

He shook his head, stepping away from him. _’Come back... don’t forget about me,’_ he whispered, but his mouth didn’t move this time. Before Harley could reach for him, he he was gone as if he hadn’t been there at all.

Tony found him a moment later, but Harley was too shaken that he only managed a ‘sorry’ to being reprimanded about falling behind, and followed the man back to where he’d dropped his bike.

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_June 19, 2016 (Sunday)_

Harley wouldn’t say that he was scared, because he wasn’t, not anymore. He’d seen the sadness in Peter’s eyes, the truth; or at least, what he believed to be true. Peter truly believed that he was being kept prisoner by fairies, and he wanted to help him. Harley didn’t want Peter to keep having that desperate look on his face. So, against his better judgment, he returned to the park the next day without telling anyone where he was going.

Sundays were a bit tricky for Harley. His mama had always insisted on going to church every Sunday, and Harley always resisted her on account that he’d feel like a big hypocrite. He was what all the people in the congregation referred to as ‘wicked’. Damn, how he despised that word more than anything he could ever describe. It was hard being gay and religious, because he did believe. How could he look at his mama, who worked so hard so they could have the things they needed, and not believe. While she was gone now, he still had his sister, he saw her as her smile got a bit wider each day, and she made him not just give up.

So, it was necessarily that he didn’t believe, he just didn’t want to go to a place that called him wicked, disgusting, or immoral. Harley knew that no every place was like that, but he had no time to try and differentiate. He was fifteen, had a nine year old sister that needed him, and that’s all that matter.

Only, Abbie wanted to go to church, and Pepper had agreed to take her, because it’s what their mama use to do. Harley didn’t go, refused to be guilted into going even by her. So, he had Sundays to himself, trying to figure out what to do with himself.

This is the reason he was here now, back in Central Park and trying to find a boy that may, or may not be a ghost. Hell, he could be one of those supposed fairies he said that had stolen him away, and now wanted to steal Harley away. Harley would just have to make sure not to eat any food the other might offer him. It was just that, he didn’t know the first place to start looking.

Harley was moving along The Ramble when he heard something that sounded like _‘pssst!’_, which was strange to hear so clearly when there was a lot of people around. Then he saw Peter motioning from somewhere off the man-made path, looking to he halfway inside the stones. It was late afternoon, and it was slightly darker here with the amount of trees surrounding this place.

It was Sunday, so the majority of the people were located in the larger areas of the park, such as the ballfields and the playground areas. This part of The Ramble was strangely secluded at the moment, almost like it was intentional. It felt a bit ominous to Harley, and he felt uneasy, because he wasn’t too familiar with New York, never mind the 840 acre Central Park.

Even so, he jumped the fence easily and approached with caution to where the ghost (maybe) was waving at him. “Hey,” he said cautiously, and was a bit surprised when he seemed to have changed his appearance even when he’d said that he couldn’t change. He would have said something, but he was worried that he might disappear again.

The clothes he was wearing weren’t any less strange, with a bright orange shirt and a green windbreaker with blue trim, and a pair of black and white shorts. His whole outfit clashed with one another, but damned if he didn’t look adorable. _‘Could you stop being a disaster gay for a moment, Harley,’_ the blonde haired teen chastised himself.

Peter looked at him, swaying back and forth as if being buffeted back and forth by the wind, only, there was no wind to be felt. It was warm and uncomfortably sticky, so Harley would have been grateful for just a small breeze. He was use to Tennessee weather, but he’d never liked them. At the moment he was wearing cut-off jeans, and a white t-shirt along with his old beat up white sneakers. While it was true that he had been adopted by Tony Stark (there had been a press conference and everything, but Harley and Abbie’s faces hadn’t been shown to protect them for the time being), that didn’t mean he was going to become a douchey rich kid. He still wore the clothes he’d brought from Tennessee.

When he reached Peter, he saw that he’d been right about his mismatched clothes being terrible, but he still made it work some how. Or Harley was just blinded by a cute boy. “So, what do I have to do to... help you?” he asked, trying not to shuffle nervously. Because cute boy or not, he was also a ghost or a fairy trying to steal his soul or something like that.

The other grinned, reaching out toward him and Harley was proud of himself for not flinching away. When their hand’s connected, and it was strange but it didn’t feel like a flesh hand, but it was corporeal and cool to the touch. Harley shivered a bit as he got closer, but made no move to distance himself from Peter. He was seriously screwed if Peter was some kind of fairy creature trying to steal, or eat his soul.

“Come on,” Peter said, grinning as he pulled him forward. He found himself being led down a stone stairway. There was literally nothing down there, and Harley had to duck down under the large rock to get to the sheltered inlet that Peter led him to. He was surprised when he saw some kind of blanket or other spread out, so he didn’t get the seat of his shorts wet when he sat on the ground.

When he turned toward the front, he was a bit stunned at the sight. The trees were low with their green leaves, some just bushes, and the shade they provided was not as ominous at all as he’d first thought. It was beautiful, and there was almost something rhythmic in watching the movement of water, no matter how dirty it looked, and now he could hear the soft movement of the wind. It was almost like it was just Harley and Peter, the other’s hand still gripped in his own; cold but solid.

“Who are you, really?” Harley asked him, looking at the other teenager sitting next to him, far too close. Even so, when the other shifted closer, he didn’t move away as his heart started to pound in his chest.

“I’m the wind... and the trees, and the ground under your feet,” he whispered. Harley couldn’t help lean back and away from him, but the rock was at his back, and Peter was so close that he should feel his breath on his face, but there was nothing. He couldn’t even tell if he was breathing.

The came that voice again, like two voice overlapping that he couldn’t distinguish one from the other.

_‘It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fallen, it was blood...’_

Harley reached out with hesitant hands to the other’s face because he seemed to have gotten lost to whatever he was hearing or seeing. “Peter, come back,” he told him.

_’And, all at once, the moon arose through the thin ghastly mist, and was crimson in color. And mine eyes fell upon a huge gray rock which stood by the shore of the river, and was lighted by the light of the moon.’_

He was confused, since he didn’t know where the voice was coming from but the other was lost as he stared straight ahead without really seeing Harley. So, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to the other’s cheek, to wake him from his trance and because Harley really wanted to.

Peter blinked and looked at him as his eyes cleared. “Did you just-?” he choked and Harley was a bit amazed as his face flushed scarlet. It was a good look on him, and he found that he wanted to see it more. So, since Peter had leaned close enough already, he closed the last few inches between them and while he could feel his lips, cool and solid, it didn’t really feel like him.

Even so, he heard Peter gasp even if he doubted he needed air, and then he was kissing him back. His hand fumbled for Harley’s and their fingers locked together. Even if he was sure he might have been kissing a shadow or an illusion, it felt nice and he wanted to kiss him for however long he had breath. Harley knew though, that he had to stop, so he broke the kiss.

Peter made a small whimpering sound when Harley pulled away, but he needed Peter to focus; _he_ needed to focus on how to help him.

“Peter, what can I do to help you?” Harley asked, scooting back a bit. Peter leaned forward, probably to keep the kiss going, and damn if he didn’t want to. So, he grabbed him by the shoulders and stopped him, and once again marveled that he felt solid. “Focus, Peter!”

The smaller boy’s face changed to that vaguely distant look, and he was in time to only say his name again before he disappeared like the mist. Only when he was gone did he realize it was dark, the sunlight had gone when before it had been shining through the tree branches, and he hadn’t realized how long he’d been there. Harley realized he had lost time.

Harley suddenly heard the crunch of footsteps and he tensed and moved further under the boulder, eyes darting toward the water, wondering if he could get away through there even if it meant getting his shoes wet. Then he relaxed, because it was likely just park security, and only had a moment longer to wonder what they were doing off the path when he realized it wasn’t park security.

“Hey, what’re you doing there kid?” a rough voice asked. He couldn’t make out much of the man’s face, dark as it was, but he felt one of his hands close around his leg and drag him out. “Spying on us, are you?” he snarled, and Harley saw there were two of them.

“Lemme go!” Harley growled, kicking at him as the man yelped when his foot connected with his face as he cursed. Harley darted around him, barely avoided the other man’s grabbing hand as his sneakers made a scraping sound on the stones as he threw himself up the stairway. The men were shouting after him, but he refused to stop, managing to jump over the fence and took off running, aware that he was being followed.

“Harley,” he heard someone call and his head snapped up, seeing Peter motioning through the trees off the path. He didn’t like the idea of leaving the path and crashing through the woods, but he also wasn’t going to get caught. So, he hopped over the fence, following Peter as he seemed to shine, reminding him of stories that told of lights that would lead travelers stray and to their deaths.

Harley certainly hoped the <s>ghost</s> boy wasn’t leading him to get lost and die.-

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘Silence - A Fable’ by Edgar Allan Poe is referenced here.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley and Peter in the darkness of Central Park...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’ve been concentrating on another story (not HMHH) even if I haven’t finished He Makes Him Happy and I need to start on the sequel of Martian Child. It just wouldn’t leave me alone. It has no plot, and I have a vague storyline I’m following, so my usual show. Cause there’s no plot in any of my stories, I don’t think so.
> 
> Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter.

**Second Star To The Right**   
_Chapter Four_

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_“If you see something that looks like a star_   
_ And it's shooting up out of the ground_   
_ And your head is spinning from a loud guitar_

_And you just can't escape from the sound_   
_ Don't worry too much, it'll happen to you_   
_ We were children once, playing with toys_

And_ the thing that you're hearing is only the sound __of  
The low spark of high-heeled boys...”_

~The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys - Traffic

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_June 19, 2016 (Sunday) 11:47PM_

Harley was breathing heavily, feeling a stitch forming in his side and he wondered what the hell these bastards had drank to still be following him. Were they Olympic runners?!

“Hurry, Harley!” Peter called, not even winded as he continued to keep pace with him, seeming to glow so Harley wouldn’t lose his footing and trip on a tree branch and fall like some idiot. He kept looking behind them, his face growing more and more worried, and Harley didn’t dare look back. “Hurry!”

“I.... _gasp_... can’t.... run... any longer!” he panted, sweat running down his face and felt his shirt sticking to his back. He could hear the sound of water near by and wondered if he was near one of the many water sources in the park, maybe a way to get away. Harley could smell the fragrant scent of flowers as well, so he was sure that it was the pond he’d passed earlier, but didn’t remember if it led anywhere. He was sure it didn’t.

Peter got a determined look on his face and flickered out, and Harley stumbled in the sudden darkness, making him have to stop. He fumbled for his phone as he almost tripped again, saw a flower bush and dived inside even as the branches tore at his face. Harley shut his phone off as soon as he was out of sight.

The teenager stiffened when he heard the two men approach, the lights from their phones cutting through the darkness Harley had been hoping would have hidden him better in the flower bush. “Where is he?” the one that had spoken before asked.

“I dunno, but he’s gotta be near by, that light or whatever it was extinguished around here,” the second voice grunted. They were getting closer to where Harley was hiding and he curled further down, and wondering how Peter could have just left him.

When he was sure they would find him, hearing them pushing aside the branches of the bush he was in, he heard laughter. Both men paused, and he was just able to see them above him, looking around frantically. “What was that?”

The sounds of whispered were heard for several moments, before a high raspy voice started to sing:

_’We have teeth and we have tails.  
We have tails we have eyes.’_

It sounded like many voices singing at once, and it was chilling to listen to that even if he’d heard it before, made Harley shiver.

He heard the men following him start to breathe more heavily. “What the fuck is that?” one of them shouted, and Harley realized they could hear the voices as well.

_’We were here before you fell. You will be here when we rise!’_ the voices sung, followed by laughter once again.

“Fuck this, man! I’m getting out of here.” Harley heard footsteps break into a run, crashing through the foliage and low hanging tree branches.

“Get back here, you fucking coward!” the other man shouted, hitting the bush in anger that Harley flinched instinctively. “I know that’s you, kid!” He heard the man moving around, almost like he was trying to spot Harley in the darkness, the light from his phone making jerky movements as he shone it around himself. “You can’t scare me!”

Harley dared to peek out where he saw a glow intensify, wondering if it was late enough for it to be the next day. Then he realized that it wasn’t the sun at all, but Peter. _’Why do you seem so scared?’_ he whispered in the high whiny voice that didn’t come from his mouth. _’All I wanted to do was play with you.’_

He lifted his hand, the man shaking where he stood and Harley couldn’t blame him. Peter was literally floating a foot off the ground, glowing in a strange soft light and his eyes were pure white. _’Please come and play with me. I’m so lonely...’_ His lips lifted into a terrible smile. _‘You’re not afraid of the dark.... are you? Don’t be afraid, come with me. I will show you where I play hide and seek.’_

That was all the man seemed able to take as he ran off, screaming the whole way until he disappeared from view. Harley was shaking when he came out, looking toward Peter as he floated down and returned to normal, smiling at him. Then his smile faltered when he saw the wary look back on Harley’s face.

“Are you afraid of me now?” Peter asked softly, flickering as he dimmed. The light seemed to be controlled by his emotions, and he seemed to lose himself to the words and phrases Harley couldn’t recognize. Maybe the words he had heard in the park by the people that he had observed but didn’t seem to be able to see him.

“Don’t go!” Harley said panicked, reaching out and grabbed his hand. Peter looked at him sadly and Harley thought he looked tired. “We still haven’t figured out how to save you. M-maybe we can get Tony to help us,” he said.

Peter frowned. “Tony?” he asked as his face contorted in an emotion he couldn’t name.

“Yes, Tony Stark, he’s my adopted dad. He’s really smart, he can help you, I bet,” Harley said, trying to keep him from leaving.

“Tony.... T...” he tried to speak, but he was fading fast. “...so tired... used too much strength... Harley... Tony is...”

He disappeared from sight, but some last few words reached him that frankly confused him, thinking Peter had just gotten jumbled again as he was prone to do.

_’Good-by to the life I used to live,  
And the world I used to know...’_

Harley realized he was alone now and it was late and Tony and Pepper were probably worried sick. He would probably be grounded, but he found that he didn’t care. The teenager was determined to return again soon, because Peter had saved him tonight, and Harley was determined to save Peter.

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_June 20, 2016 (Monday) 5:47PM_

Harley knew that he’d have to sneak out, because Tony had grounded him for two weeks. Two weeks! Harley couldn’t wait that long to see Peter, and even if they’d gotten distracted last time, he was determined to get Peter to concentrate and tell him where the supposed fairies had taken him from. Maybe he’d miraculously stumble upon him sleeping or something, something! He couldn’t be a ghost, felt too solid to be one, so needed to figure out what Peter could remember.

Harley also wanted to spend more time with the other, finding himself really falling for him. It was hard, because he was... something that didn’t seem to be of this world, which is why he was clinging to the belief that he could ‘find him’ if he really was taken, or lost. Harley couldn’t think of him being a ghost, he really couldn’t.

So, he had studied books or lore and anything he could find on the internet about fairies, and found out that iron hurt fairies. Harley needed to take something made of iron if he came across any of them. He didn’t think of the fact that he hadn’t seen any kind of otherworldly beings besides Peter.

Harley had studied the plans of the building he’d stolen while Tony had been at a meeting he couldn’t reschedule. He knew that Abbie would be in bed by eight as per her bedtime, and Tony and Pepper had a late night meet with a client in Tokyo at 11PM through video conference. They’d likely wouldn’t be back until at twelve or one in the morning, depending if they had a late dinner. So, Harley would have four, maybe five hours to get back, and he would do the whole putting pillows under his covers to make it seem he was in bed. Hopefully it would work.

“Harley.”

Harley flinched, turning to look at Pepper that had managed to sneak up on him. He closed the book he was reading as calmly as he could, using his arm to shield the title on the cover. “Yeah, what’s up Pepper?” Harley asked, glancing behind her as if he would see Tony behind her and relaxing when he saw she was alone.

Pepper sighed. “You know, Tony is just worried about you, Harley,” she told him, having noticed him looking for her husband. She sat on the stool next to him at the kitchen counter. When he stubbornly turned away, she sighed again but this time it was a more heavy, tired sounding sound. “You know... Tony had an intern,” she started.

The teenager frowned and looked at her, wondering why she was telling him this. Also, he hadn’t ever heard of Tony having an intern, since he usually preferred to work alone. “Yes, I know what you’re thinking, but this kid... he was special. He was fifteen but probably as smart as Tony,” she recounted. She had turned to stare out the wall-length windows in the room, where he could already see a red moon, the Strawberry Moon. It would likely look more magnificent tonight.

“He wormed his way into Tony’s heart and life, and soon saw the kid as more... as a son, if you will.” Pepper turned back to look at him, reaching out and running a hand down along his dirty blonde mop of hair. “He was excited for you two to meet, knew you’d get along like a house on fire.”

Harley was almost afraid to ask what had happened to this intern, but he needed to know about him. He wanted to know why Pepper had brought him up. “What happened to him?”

Pepper reached up to wipe at her eyes, and Harley was surprised when he saw actual tears in her eyes. “They had a heated argument... about his health. He had weak lungs, and hated Tony babying him. He ran from him... and he had an accident... he fell, and... I...” she paused to compose herself, taking some tissues from a Kleenex box on the counter.

“I know he still blames himself for it, and when you didn’t come home, he was afraid you had gotten hurt.” She dabbed at her eyes, making sure her mascara was unblemished. “So, please don’t hate him too much for having overreacted when you disappeared yesterday.”

Harley was shocked by this, since he couldn’t imagine losing someone you loved like a son and then blaming yourself. “I... I don’t hate him,” he said in a quiet voice. His fingers tightened around the book, and contemplated telling Pepper what was happening with Peter. He turned to look at her, saw her glancing back at the strawberry red moon and bit his tongue. No, it wouldn’t be fair to her, since she seemed just as shaken talking about this intern that Tony had apparently lost. Harley wondered how he had died, but then decided not to ask that either since it would be insensitive of him. “I will try harder to not give him trouble,” he said at last.

Pepper looked back at him, blinking a bit in confusion as if she had forgotten that he was there. Now Harley was even more glad he hadn’t said anything about Peter. “No, you aren’t giving him trouble, Harley,” she was quick to correct. “He cares about you, and doesn’t want anything to happen to you.”

The adolescent felt guilty, knowing he was going to sneak out tonight and endanger himself again. There was just no way around going by himself, since he refused to endanger Abbie, Tony wouldn’t believe him with his rational way of thinking (hell, Harley had been skeptical at first as well), and Pepper seemed burdened by running the company and keeping a grieving Tony concentrated on work instead of thinking of his dead surrogate son.

So, when Pepper left him to his reading, Harley still covering the title of his book, he hoped that he was able to find a way to save Peter soon. He seemed to lose time when he was with the other, and realized it happened the more time he spent with them. Maybe he _was_ stealing his soul?

This question plagued him as Harley took the elevator down to the 97th floor, which he’d learned was the medical floor. Harley had seen both Tony and May there many times, and now wondered if it had to do with Tony’s deceased son. He stopped that train of thought immediately, since he didn’t want to even think about some weird Pet Cemetery stuff happening or anything.

He had to take the regular elevator there since it led to the regular parking garage, which the private elevator didn’t. It led to all the floors, the lobby, and finally a special parking area that only Tony and the rest of them used for security purposes.

It was quiet when the elevator opened silently on the 97th floor, and he only heard faint music coming from close to where the bed with the drawn curtain was at, able to see it due to the glass walls. As he made his way to the regular elevator and pushed the button, the song changed and the gentle strums of a guitar started up before a man’s voice started to sing.

_’_ _Yesterday I died,_  
_tomorrow's bleeding._  
_Fall into your sunlight_  
_The future's open wide,_  
_beyond believing_  
_To know why, hope dies_  
_Losing what was found,_  
_a world so hollow...’_

Harley got into the elevator as the door opened, and closed again silently. His heart was pounding, thinking he was going to be caught, but he was surprised that he made it downstairs without being spotted. On the street, having crept through the alley next to the tower, he hailed a cab.

He was in Central Park in a short amount of time, and was relieved when he saw that it wasn’t even 8:20 yet, so he had plenty of time. Harley hurried into the park, and it was alit with enough light that it wasn’t dark. It took another ten to fifteen minutes to reach Rat Rock, since he didn’t really know where else to start looking for him.

Once again, Harley wondered if it was really called Rat Rock as called for the other teenager. “Peter?” Harley adjusted his light blue long sleeved buttoned shirt, which he’d worn over a black shirt with a neon green T-Rex and the Jurassic Park logo on the front. Even if it was warm, he had still worn blue jeans and his black and white converse. “Are you here?”

“Harley?” The boy appeared again on top of the large rock, crouching down as he had before, grinning at him. His clothes were back to the same as the first day they’d met and even if there was a slight wind, the strands of his curly hair didn’t seem to be affected by it. Harley wondered how he’d been able to touch him before, since it didn’t seem like the outside world affected him . “Come on up,” he told him, humming a vaguely familiar song as he stood and wandered out of sight.

Harley huffed, looking around for a way to get up. He circled the large rock, wondering if he could climb up from another way. Finally, he was able to climb on top with some difficulty, but when he got there he didn’t see Peter. He went to the ledge and peered down, wondering if he’d gone down and was just messing with him.

He stiffened when he felt someone behind him suddenly, arms wrapping around his waist. “This is where you have to jump,” Peter’s voice whispered close to his ear, even if he was sure he was too short to be able to do that. “You’ll fly and then you have to head up to the sky, the second star to the right and straight til morning. Then... then we’ll be together.”

Peter was humming a song that Harley was sure he knew, but the fear was making it hard to remember. “Peter... stop,” Harley said, not understanding why he was doing this all of a sudden. He tried to move back but unable to move the other boy. It was like trying to push back the rock underneath his feet. “I don’t want to fall.”

“You won’t fall, Harley... you’ll fly. I flew too and then I was surrounded by darkness, so much dark. Then I woke up here. Please, Harley.... I’m so lonely,” Peter begged. “I’ve been here alone... for so long, years and years it seems.” His arms tightened and he could feel his mouth against his back, but his voice was in his ear and Harley was starting to think that he wasn’t a fairy at all, but really was a ghost of some kind.

It wasn’t a long fall, but Harley was sure if Peter shoved him from here, he’d get hurt badly if he landed wrong. He could break an arm, or a leg, or even break his neck. “Don’t,” he choked, “please, don’t hurt me.”

Peter’s hands gripped the front of his shirt tightly, feeling as he shook his head. “I wouldn’t! I’d never hurt you... you have to jump, and then you can stay with me.” He moved around him and soon he was in front of him, but there was nothing holding him up as he floated as he had before, so they were face to face. Now that he was facing him, his brown eyes were filled with tears that didn’t fall. “Please, help me... I’m so tired of being alone... of being so cold.”

Harley wanted to help him, but he didn’t want to get hurt doing it. “Maybe... maybe there’s another way,” he said, “I’ve been reading a lot of books that could help you.” He hadn’t stepped away from the edge, now holding onto Peter because he was starting to realize his most terrible thought was true. He glowed like a ghost, could float, and he said he’d fallen here, and he wanted Harley to _chose_ to jump and hurt himself enough that... he would die? “Are... are you dead?” Harley asked him suddenly, voice shaking.

The smaller boy’s eyes went wide as those words left his mouth, before his face contorted into anger as the light around him turned as red as the moon above their heads. “No! I’m not dead! NO!” he shouted, pushing himself away from Harley who reached out for him, forgetting that Peter couldn’t fall. Harley gave a cry of terror as he topped over the edge, feeling his feet leave the stone as he fell. His eyes snapped closed as he waited for the pain, but he suddenly felt arms catch and lift him. Harley felt his back hit the hard surface of the rock, and a body on top of him.

His eyes snapped open and saw Peter, face close to his and sad brown eyes looking into his blue ones. “I’m not dead... am I?” The tears filled his eyes, making them sparkle in the moonlight, but they didn’t fall again, as if they were trapped there. “Am I dead, Harley?” Peter sobbed.

Harley reached out for his face, and he could feel something solid, but not the feeling of flesh, not really. “No... I don’t think you are,” he whispered, his hand cupping his cheek.

Peter sobbed, leaning down until their foreheads were pressed together. “I’m sorry... I’m so sorry,” he cried. “My head is so jumbled, so confused. No one could see me for so long, and then you and Abbie were the first ones that could see me, and I thought... I dunno. I thought we could be together, me and you.”

The taller teen leaned up and pressed his mouth to his, and almost immediately Peter kissed him back and the fingers of their hands intertwined. Harley kissed this impossible boy under the moonlight on top of a rock in Central Park, and he prayed that he was real, somewhere, somehow.

“It feels so nice... your kiss is warm,” Peter whispered against his mouth, pressing their lips together again. _’To know why, hope dies... losing what was found, a world so hollow...’_ Harley heard him singing with the voice that didn’t come from his mouth, because that mouth was still kissing him.

Harley pulled away in surprise, because he knew those words. “I know that song... I’ve heard it,” he gasped.

Peter was starting to fade away again. “I hear a voice sometimes,” he said softly, voice fading as his body was starting to disappear. Harley tried to hang onto him, but it was like trying to hang onto the wind. “I’m so tired, Harley... I just want to go home.”

_’We have eyes and we have nerveses. We have tails we have teeth. You’ll all get what you deserveses, when we rise from underneath.’_

“Peter, don’t go... don’t go,” Harley begged, not able to feel his weight on him anymore, barely able to see him.

_’While the world is full of troubles. And anxious in its sleep,’_ Peter’s voice came again, seeing as he reached for Harley but his fingers passed through him, almost gone now, eyes closing as if in sleep. _‘Come away, O human child. To the waters and the wild...’_

Harley’s eyes widened. “With a faery, hand in hand, for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand!” he finished for him. “Do you know May? Peter?! Do you know May?!” He was yelling now, uncaring if someone heard him.

Peter’s eyes opened, confused. “Aunt May... is she here?” Then he was gone.

“Peter! Come back!” Harley screamed desperately, but there was no answer from the boy.-

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Coraline by Neil Gaiman is referenced here once again. Read his book, it’s spectacular.
> 
> -Farewell by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) referenced.
> 
> -Shattered by Trading Yesterday.
> 
> Also, the words that Peter uses to scare the men were taken from this [spooky video](https://youtu.be/dTc20bVT180) of a little ghost girl speaking. It’s minute 0:00 - 0:21 & 1:03 - 1:16 is the scary whispers.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley finds Peter...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to wait at least two more days to post this chapter, but decided to post it because FFH comes out today and I’m super excited and needing out. So, enjoy the conclusion to this story that’s special to my heart. One day, I’ll write an actual Peter Pan AU and not this remix of it lmao

**Second Star To The Right**   
_Chapter Five_

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_“Once there was a way_   
_ To get back homeward_

_Once there was a way_   
_ To get back home_

_Sleep, pretty darling_   
_ Do not cry_   
_ And I will sing a lullaby...”_

~Golden Slumbers - The Beatles

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

_June 20, 2016, 12:15AM (Monday)_

It was midnight by the time he got back to the tower, his heart beating a frantic tattoo from his mad dash back to the tower, too desperate to wait for a cab. Harley had to run, to get back there and see if what he suspected was true. He didn’t even care about being caught now, entering through the front entrance, using his card. The adolescent ignored the security guards, rushing to the private elevator that opened immediately when he swiped his card. The doors closed in the guards face as Harley pressed the button for the 97th floor.

He rushed out the elevator, heading for the door that led into the room with the glass walls and the bed that was surrounded by the curtain. Harley heard the steady beeping of what could only be a heart monitor, the soft music was coming from a StarkPhone, Taylor Swift’s voice singing softly.

_‘Just close your eyes,_   
_the sun is going down_   
_You'll be alright,_   
_no one can hurt you now_   
_Come morning light,_   
_you and I'll be safe and sound...’_

He pushed aside the curtain and his blue eyes alighted on the bed and the small figure attached to the heart monitor, and a breathing machine. “Peter,” he choked out, stopping next to the bed as he reached out a shaking hand to touch the other boy’s motionless hand. The hand was cold as the room he was in, and he reached out and gently put it under the blanket, pulling it up so he wouldn’t be cold.

He saw that there was a chair next to the bed and a small table with a book on it. Harley reached for it and saw the title read ‘Peter Pan’ by J.M. Barrie. There was a bookmark inside it and when he opened, he read, _‘She asked where he lived. ‘Second star to the right,’ said Peter, ‘and then straight on till morning.’_

There was a bag next to the bed and he pulled out several books. ‘Coraline’, by Neil Gaiman, A book of poems by Silvia Plath, The complete works of W.B. Yeats, another book of by Neil Gaiman, ‘Stardust’, new and untouched. It looked like it was ready to be read to a boy in a bed that slept, and dreamed of the words being read to him.

“Peter, I’m here,” Harley whispered, sitting down in the chair he was sure May had spent many days sitting in. She had likely read to Peter for endless days, waiting and hoping he would wake one day. “I found you.”

He grabbed the unread book by Neil Gaiman, and held his hand with the other. “Chapter One. In Which We Learn of the Village of Wall, and of the Curious Thing That Occurs There Every Nine Years,” he started to read in a soft, clear voice. “There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart’s Desire...”

Harley read, hoping that Peter would hear his voice. After all, he’d found him when he heard his voice in Central Park, so maybe he would hear him now and be able to find his way back.

\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~  
  


_June 22 - July 09, 2016_

Neither May, nor Tony, nor Pepper understood why Harley had taken up vigil by Peter’s bedside. May didn’t really mind because that meant someone could sit with him while she was at work. Tony didn’t understand it, but it kept Harley out of trouble. It pained him to see Peter so still, so he never stayed long. Pepper would bring him lunch sometimes if she was free, and honey with tea since his throat was strained after reading for Peter all day, day after day.

Abbie came a few times when Harley took a break to eat, shower and rest his voice and she’d tell Peter of life in the tower, the new friends she’d met at the park that Happy had taken over from Harley since he’d started his vigil at Peter’s bedside.

Harley had tried returning once more after he’d found Peter in that bed, but the other boy hadn’t appeared no matter what time of day he came. Several people had given him wary looks as he went through the park, calling Peter’s name, and a few kids and a man or two had answered. They weren’t the Peter he was looking for, so he waved them off and continued looking. After a day, he had returned to the tower and refused to return. For some reason, Peter hadn’t been able to return after their last encounter.

Perhaps it was because he had thought he was dead, or he had used whatever strength he used to manifest when he’d saved Harley from the men the other day, and then lifting him in the air when he almost fell. So, now all he had was this. He would read to him, pick up whatever book he had decided to start that day, since he usually finished the smaller ones in a day or two.

They had taken the breathing tube out at one point to see if he would breathe on his own, and they’d been relieved when he had. It gave them hope that he might wake up soon, but it was a small hope. Even then, Harley held onto it with desperate fingers and continued his reading. He had told them the truth about Peter and even with Abbie confirming that Peter was the boy he had seen, the adults were skeptical. May believed him though, held his hands and begged Harley to keep reading to him.

“He might hear you better,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “If he appeared to you in the park, then he’ll find you here and find his way to his body.”

So, Harley read and read.

By the end of June he had picked up Harry Potter when Ned, who was Peter’s best friend and visited every week, told him that Peter was a fan and had read all of them. Harley figured he’d enjoy a re-read of them. Besides, Harley had never read them and wanted to share something with the sleeping boy. Harley was hooked after the first one, but often times raged to the unconscious teen about them.

“He tried to send the students out of the Great Hall?! Did he forget that there’s a troll in the castle?! Why not just seal the students inside and go kill the thing?!”

“They didn’t shut the school down? Even when a student was petrified?! What the hell is Dumbledore smoking, geez!”

“They gave a time tuner to a thirteen year old? Like, a way to literally go back in time, risk creating a time paradox in the hands of a hormonal thirteen year old... just to take more classes? Are they out of their minds?!”

“Wait, students have died participating in this tournament? What the hell? Then why are they starting it up again? These people shouldn’t be in charge of children, ever!”

And on and on it went, Harley complaining about the books, but unable to stop reading them either. By almost the end of July he was almost finished with the last book and he was on the edge of his seat as he read.

“Come on... I know he has to be good. I mean... Dumbledore trusted him, right? He couldn’t have deceived Dumbledore for all those years, and he could have killed Harry any time he wanted. Snape can’t be evil.... right? He has to be faking it. He was a spy before, he has to be a spy again now... even if he killed Dumbledore.”

Then he reached the part where Snape was killed and Harley had literal tears running down his face. “Nooo, he was my favorite character, even if he was a snarky asshole,” he cried. “That’s it... I’m done,” he said as he threw the book down as he reached the end of the chapter.

“You’re gonna miss finding out if he was good or bad,” a weak voice rasped.

Harley’s head snapped up with a gasp. “Peter!” He fell forward, gripping his face in shaking hands. “You’re awake... you’re awake!”

Peter’s dry lips lifted in a weak smile. “I followed your voice,” he said hoarsely. He sighed as Harley pressed his lips to his in their first real kiss, and he was warm and real, and awake! “Besides,” he said as Harley, “I couldn’t stay asleep while you insulted the Harry Potter books.”

Harley gave a half laugh, half sob as he laid his forehead against the other’s. “Your breath stinks,” he snarked back, wiping the tears on his cheeks only for more to take its place.

The smaller teen grimaced. “You try sleeping this long and not have stinky breath,” he croaked. He frowned. “What day is it? How long have I been asleep?”

Harley sat back on the chair, trying again to wipe his face since his eyes were starting to sting. “Your... accident happened in late October, so you’re been in a coma for almost eight months.”

Peter’s eyes widened in shock. “Eight months?!” he practically shouted, before dissolving into heavy coughs from straining his throat.

“Hey, take it easy,” Harley said. He took the glass with water and brought it to Peter’s lips where he sucked greedily at the straw. Harley took it away quickly. “Not too much, you haven’t eaten anything besides from a feeding tube, so you might throw up.”

Peter grimaced and reached up to gently touch his nasogastric tube that was tapped with medical tape to his face to hold it in place. “Ugh, that’s disgusting,” he grumbled. He lifted his hand now that he could see it, and was shocked at how thin his wrist looked. “Where’s... where’s the mirror? I want to see myself.”

Harley laid a hand on his own. “Peter, you shouldn’t... you’ve lost a lot of weight,” he said gently. He didn’t want the other to be distressed just minutes after waking up.

The brown haired teen’s bambi brown eyes filled with tears, and this time they ran down his cheeks. “I look hideous, don’t I?” he asked, voice wobbling.

His eyes closed when Harley reached out to touch his face, and it was nice to feel his warm skin under his hand, and not like an echo of one. “No, you‘re beautiful,” Harley whispered.

It was true. Peter was finally awake, and Harley could finally see him, touch him. Peter was the most beautiful sight in the whole world.-

_finis_

  
\- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Support me by pressing the kudos button, and commenting, ya heathens. Hope this conclusion wasn’t too cliche. Yell at me through IG DM or post a comment.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my instagram account for random shit: [@phiodmuse](https://www.instagram.com/phiodmuse/).


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